AMD brings advanced physics ecosystem to game developers

Mike Luttrell, 8th March 2010

AMD announced this morning that it is providing game developers with free access to Digital Molecular Matter (DMM), a physics simulator created by AMD partner Pixelux. The move is part of a new initiative in the game development community called "Open Physics."

AMD's announcement comes as a collaborative effort with Pixelux as well as fellow partner Bullet Physics. The three are working together to provide the most realistic physics simulations on the market. Pixelux's platform focuses on material physics while Bullet is working on optimizing rigid body physics. All of this middleware is compatible with OpenCL and DirectCompute systems.

Now, game developers can take full advantage of this collaborative technology without even paying a licensing fee.

"Establishing an open and affordable physics development environment is an important accomplishment for both game developers and gamers, signaling a move away from exclusionary or proprietary approaches," said Eric Demers, the CTO of AMD's Graphics Division.

The Digital Molecular Matter engine has been optimized for all major gaming platforms, including the Xbox 360, Wii, PS3, as well as PCs and Macs. AMD wants to set this as the standard for in-game physics.

In AMD's press release, the CEO of game engine developer Trinigy, Danie Conradie, said, "AMD’s Open Physics Initiative with Pixelux DMM and Bullet Physics, coupled with our long-standing relationship with all three companies, helped us deliver on that core philosophy by giving developers access to these state-of-the-art technologies for producing advanced effects in games."